At the press conference to announce the fight, Amir Khan took a chance to get the first shot in against Marco Antonio Barrera.
Amir Khan and Marco Antonio Barrera will meet inside the ring at Manchester Evening News Arena in only 43 days - and tickets for the fight are on fire.
Over 15,000 of the 20,000 available tickets have already been sold and Frank Warren recently informed a group of reporters that he was shocked at the overwhelming response to the fight and the demand for tickets.
“This is one of the fastest-selling bouts that I’ve ever promoted,” said Warren. “I’m very happy with how the tickets are selling and the buzz about the fight is fantastic. In these tough economic times it tells you what kind of draw this fight is and I expect that we will have a sold-out arena soon.”
Warren is no stranger to marquee events having promoted some of the biggest names in boxing from Mike Tyson to Joe Calzaghe to Ricky Hatton. Even though he knew he had a solid attraction with Khan and Barrera the fan response to the fight surprised him.
“I've brought some major shows to Manchester over the years,” said Warren. “With Ricky Hatton coming from the city, Manchester has firmly established itself as one of the centers of boxing as far as I can tell. Most of the ticket-buyers are from Britain, but I’m expecting people to come in from the U.S. and Mexico. It’s a fight that’s grabbed the imagination of a lot of people.”
Barrera's promoter Don King and Warren haven't had to do much to sell a fight that has basically sold itself in only two weeks.
The 22 year-old Khan arrived at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California last week and the bookies have installed him as the betting favorite to overcome Barrera, who is 13 years his senior.
Many find it shocking that Khan is tipped as the favorite by various on-line sports books. 5dimes.com is solidly in Khan’s corner and is offering odds on him as a -135 favorite while they have Barrera as a +105 underdog.
Warren also thinks Khan has a good shot at winning and said he believes that Barrera has weaknesses that the youngster will be able to expose.
“One thing that he’s going to bring to the ring with him is his skills, he’s got a good boxing brain,” said Warren of Barrera whom he at one time promoted. “But I have always known a couple of flaws that he’s got and I think those flaws are still there.”
While the rest of the word continues to suffer with economic malaise, boxing seems to be making a strong beginning to 2009 and Warren spoke of that as well.
“This fight is a good start to the year,” he said. “Boxing is very much on a high and I’m sure that Amir Khan is going to take it to another level. I think he’ll come through in this fight and convince and show everybody what a great fighter he is going to become.”
January 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment